Wedding Invitations: Assembly

Get ready! This is a looooong post! If you're in a rush, at least just look at the pictures of our hard work! :D

I was so happy to have help from some wonderful people for this tedious project. It would have taken me FOREVER if I was left on my own, because I'm sorta OCD when it comes to this stuff. My fabulous friend/bridesmaid, Jen came over as soon as she got off of work to lend a hand and offer her expert advice. I knew she would be perfect for the project since she just helped do this sort of thing for her sister Jamie's wedding. The top snapshots of the picture below show Jen completing the first step of the project: Gluing the blue paper with the wording onto the yellow backing paper. The next two snapshots of the picture show me working on the second step, which was gluing the paper that we completed in step one to the beautiful pocket style invitation.

We also got to have some fun with stamps for the third step. We chose a beautiful sand dollar to stamp on the yellow paper that went behind the reception information card (which was printed on vellum). It was fun to chat and catch up as we stamped away. This step was not as intense as the first two steps :)

Sand dollars up close...

Below you can see the crew hard at work: Jen, Paige, and Cody. Cody is my awesome cousin from Texas, who is visiting for about a month. I figured I put him to work a little bit while he's here :) My sister/MOH, Chelsea, came to help too, but she wasn't available during this picture. Chelsea and Cody were in charge of the fourth step, which was folding the pockets, and adding the RSVP neatly into the pocket.

The next day my adorable mother, Pam, came to help me finish up the final steps. Below you can see her completing the sixth step while I was working on the fifth step (which I will explain next; sorry it's not in perfect order) The sixth step included snipping the sheer, yellow ribbon to the appropriate size, and then tying it in a cute knot around a completed invitation.
The next pictures show me doing the fifth step. I glued the vellum reception cards onto the yellow paper that Jen and I had stamped with the sand dollar the day before. After the glue dried a little bit, I stuffed the reception card into the pocket and handed it to my mom to tie.

Cute little invitations ready for the seventh step: putting them in the envelope!

I was fortunate enough to have my Aunt Laurie's best friend Marylynn calligraphy the addresses on the envelopes. She did a fantastic job, and I was so pleased with how they turned. See for yourself in the picture below. I did blot out the addresses for privacy sake! But you can kind of get an idea... Also, I don't know why it uploaded sideways...I tried several times to fix it, but it's being difficult!

The eighth step was mailing my little babies (the invitations that is). After the long process, it was hard to just hand them over to someone and trust that they would take proper care with them (hand canceling). Maybe I'm just weird like that! :) But, the post office by the future Mr. and Mrs. Ben Koehnke's residence is awesome and I didn't even have to ask. They offered to hand cancel them for me :) Now that the hard work with the invitations is done I love checking the mail and receiving the response post cards. If you're reading this and you haven't sent yours in, then this is a reminder for you! :D

It was a big project, but it was great to have so much support! There were many key players that helped in the process, and I am grateful for each one of them!